Martin Luther King Speech Parallel Structure

Analysis of Sentence Structure in Martin Luther King’s Speech
1. Martin Luther King uses parallel structure for most of the speech to convey the main messages through imagery.
2. These are just 2 of the many examples from the speech which shows how he engages his audience by using imagery with the parallel structure of sentences. Other examples include, “I have a dream… Let freedom ring… et cetera ” I will briefly discuss these two phrases as well to explain why parallel structure makes his speech coherent and effective, and then use the following examples to discuss in detail how using imagery with parallel structure makes it even more effective.
• “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of

Throughout his speech King uses parallel structures with imagery to give his speech coherence, to separate different ideas within the speech and to engage his audience. Using phrases like, “I have a dream (…)”, “We can never be satisfied as long as (…),” “With this faith we will be able to (…),” and “Let freedom ring from (…),” repetitively he creates coherence in his speech. Coherence has allowed his speech to flow his ideas in a clear and logical way, which made it easier for people of all educational background to follow along, due to which he was able to keep audience interest. The parallelism have allowed him to separate different ideas for example the vision of the future with the usage of phrase, “I have a dream (…),” the goal of the speech with usage of phrase, “We cannot be satisfied as long as (…),” the assurance of unity to give them power to fight for their rights by using the phrase, “With this faith we will be able to,” the places with much hopeless conditions giving the sense of hopefulness for things to get better by using phrases like, “Let freedom ring from (…),” the result of letting freedom ring to leave the audience with a vision of bright future at the end of his speech by using phrases like, “when we let freedom ring from (…),” and “free at last (…)”. By separating different aspects of his speech he makes it clear to the audience what he is talking about, and what he wants them to take from his speech. Also by using imagery along with the